The Art of Concealment
by pinkydog123
Summary: Olivia has tried everything else, she wants something different, someone to hold onto, shes tired of just hoping with something that will never be, perhaps she can find comfort in someone else than the person who sits in front of her everyday.Ryan/Olivia
1. Nothing Ever Changes

**this is defiantly different for me, this is the first fic ive written that is not EO, what a shocker, i know, well, this is about Ryan O'hallaran and Olivia, something different, a friend over at asked me to write one for them, and here it is! i hope it lives up to what they expected! **

**Chapter 1—Nothing Ever Changes.**

"Do you always feel the need to be early?" the frustrated sigh, not the irritated sentence is what altered Olivia to her partners prescience, so, its going to be one of those days.

"No-had it ever occurred to you that you end up being late? And I'm here on time?" she states indifferently, taking a sip of her poorly made coffee while checking her e-mail.

She had Munch to thank for her morning sludge.

She has Elliot to thank for her bad day, that'll probably get worse through out.

Great.

A snort behind her is the only answer she gets-not that she was looking for one to begin with.

She doesn't want to be grumpy today, unlike her partner; he seems to dwell on everyone else's misery. Olivia can feel the migraine starting when he plops in his chair, cursing the computer in front of him of being too slow for his needs.

Patience is a virtue Stabler, one you desperately need.

She wants to thank god, personally when their Captain calls them out to a crime scene, techs, and policemen, not just Elliot,'ll surround her. But the ride there, is no walk in the park either, the whole ride is full of utter silence, not one word is to be spoken, Olivia knows this, other wise she'll get her head chewed off by her sulking partner.

She has grown sick and tired of this charade he's been pulling for the past few months, she doesn't know what the hell is going on at home. But she doesn't have to be a detective to know that's what's got him so uptight. Why does she always get the annoying feeling that its her job to ask what's wrong? He's already made it clear, more than once, that he doesn't need her to hold his hand, why should she care, when he obviously doesn't want her to either?

With a deep breath that manages not to get any air into her lungs, she opens the car door to figure out who committed the next crime in New York.

It was better than trying to find out what was wrong with her stubborn-ass partner, that's one thing she was almost certain.

"What happened here?" Olivia wondered, entering the bedroom of the victim's apartment.

They didn't know what the furniture looked like before they came here, but it was obvious everything was tossed carelessly about, not in there normal places, the bed was sideways, propped on its side against the bed, while the dresser, was by the door, what appeared to have been a barrier between it and the rest of the apartment, crime scene techs apparently had to move it to get in.

"Alice Gentry was mutilated, raped and than strangled after coming home last night, her body has been laying there for that long, about 14 hrs, setting it at about 8 o'clock last night. "

"Thanks Melinda." Thanking her for answering her question, she never really desired to know all the details, but that is the only way of capturing the victim's murder/rapist.

"I guess rape wasn't degrading enough for him." Elliot comments bitterly, taking a survey of the room.

"Looks like she was working out…" he trails off, a wince overtaking his features as he lifts the sheet covering the body, finally some sympathy and compassion towards _someone_.

"We can start at the local gyms, see if anyone remembers her talking to someone, or someone following her out." Olivia concludes, hoping this will end soon, another rapist behind bars, for once, easy enough. But she already knows that's too much to ask for.

"Don't sound so optimistic so soon." Elliot adds, his eyes still glancing around the room.

Olivia snorts and shakes her head, deciding to leave the room and see if there's anything else around the apartment.

"It looks like most of the attack was concentrated in the bedroom, but he did stop in the kitchen for a snack."

"How do you know it wasn't Alice?" Olivia asks O'Hallaren as she follows him into the kitchen. "What we heard from the M.E. it sounds like your perp stuck around after the victim was killed,"

"After the autopsy, that's the only time I can be positive." Melinda finishes, walking into the room,

"But I'll take the food and run the saliva I can get off of it, let ya know."

Olivia rolls her eyes as he walks off, but not without giving her a flirtatious wink and a smile before leaving the room. She wills herself to ignore the curious look she's getting from the M.E. before she too, leaves the kitchen. Olivia sighs and leans against the counter, forgetting about the crime scene for a moment as she wonders what the hell she's let herself get into. That's when Elliot interrupts,

"Hey, I need you to interview her neighbors with me, see if they heard anything."

"Okay."

"But only since you asked so nicely." She mutters under her breath, following him outside the door.

Olivia sighs in exhaustion as she flops into her heavenly desk chair, thankful to have the weight not concentrated on her legs for once that day. Maybe she should start working out again in the evenings, like she would have anytime to begin with, but still it wouldn't hurt…

"Come on, we're not done, we still have to finish what we've started," Elliot states, throwing a pile of papers on her desk, but she takes half of them and gives them back.

"Don't be an ass Elliot, I am not doing some of your paperwork." She states irritated, she really does need another cup of coffee, maybe 3 more.

"We've got nothing after a day of running around, and we're still on square one." Olivia continues, feeling the bitter taste of failure in her mouth, she already cant sleep and its already 10 at night.

Elliot grunts,

"When I said to stop being optimistic, I didn't want you to start complaining."

"Stabler, when I start caring about your needs, shoot me." She states bitterly, getting up out of her chair, needing some air.

Her gaze is concentrated on the floor when she rounds the corner and runs into someone.

"Sorry….I didn't mean—" she tries to apologize as the persons hands grip her arms to try and steady her.

"Its fine Olivia, don't worry about it."

She can't help but smile up at him; it's the first friendly face she's seen all day. That's when he holds up a piece of paper,

"If your stressed about the case, I probably just solved that problem, the DNA was the perps, and he was already in the database." He adds with a cocky smirk.

Olivia sighs, her smile widening, stepping away so there's a reasonable amount of space between them.

"That's great, now Elliot and I can go pick him up."

"Hey, by the way…" Olivia looks up to see his eyes gleaming as he asks,

"I was wondering if you were doing anything tomorrow night, sense you're tied up tonight, I figured, this date could possibly, go a little smoother this time." He adds with an all-knowing smirk.

Olivia sighs, her voice softening as she tried to keep it down, even though there's no one in sight.

"Ryan—I have work tomorrow, and…" she runs her hand through her hair, trying to quickly figure out how to word what she needs to say.

"It was one date, and….I-- normally don't go out with people I work with…" she tries to reason, Ryan just shakes his head, his eyes softening,

"Liv, you clearly need something more in your life than your job, dinner, tomorrow, I'll pick you up myself." Olivia glances down at her feet, a chuckle breaking through her lips,

"Are you propositioning me?"

He pretends to think about it for a while, "Yes, I believe I am." He adds with a smirk. He runs his hand softly down her arm,

"Come on, free food is pretty hard to pass up, for me anyways." Olivia's smile widens and she looks back up at him, hell, he was right, work defiantly wasn't making anything happy for her, including her partner, but she could have a few care free hours with Ryan.

"Why not?" she sighs, looking down at the ground again, suddenly feeling embarrassed. This was certainly new, especially with Ryan, the local crime scene tech. He nods in approval.

"Good."

His eyes, scan over her shoulder, and that's when he turns to leave with one last smile, Olivia sighs, knowing who's walking down the hall behind her, she knows no one would want to face her partner, he's like the goddamn father she never had, interrogating her dates to see if they're fit with going out with her, he's sure to get a kick out of this one, if he even knows. Olivia would feel comfortable longer if no one knew right away, especially since it was O'Hallaren, nothing has happened so far anyway.

Honestly, she doesn't think anything will.

She turns to begin, "O'Hallaran got the prints on our perp."

Elliot nods, his eyes still down the hall Olivia's anger sparks at that fact.

"Lets go pick him up." He states, his eyes still not meeting hers, as their making their way down the deserted hall, Elliot grows the balls to ask,

"So how long has this been going on?" trying to feign indifference, Elliot's a poor actor.

"I don't know what you mean." She mumbles, pushing the lobby button in the empty elevator, privacy where she can lash out at her partner, good.

Elliot grunts, obviously not liking the idea of him having to spell it out, good, you should feel uncomfortable about this Stabler.

"How long have you been dating O'Hallaran?"

Olivia meets his cold eyes, a sneer breaking out on her face, "I missed the part where this was any of your business." She was furious, first of all he had enough courage to ask, and the second, he seemed like he was really concerned, why the hell should he care? When he has been treating her like shit for the past couple months!?

A humorless smile breaks out on his face,

"Nothing, just curious how this one will end." And with that the ding on the elevator sounded and he was out of the door in a split second.

Of course, Olivia was hot on his heels.

**TBC**


	2. Wonderful Timing

Chapter 2---Wonderful Timing….

"What ever gave you the reason to think this was any of your business?" she calls after him, like hell if he's going to get away from her, they still need to pick up this bastard. He turns around, wracking his teeth over his bottom lip,

"You want to screw around than fine, but don't allow it to interfere with work." He spat, Olivia coming to a dead stop in front of him.

"Are we interrupting something?" Olivia drew in a deep breath and looked to her side to see Melinda and Ryan coming towards them. What now?

"Good thing I was able to grab O'Hallaran on my here," she added,

"Ya, lucky you." Elliot muttered, beginning to pace, running a hand over his face.

Olivia glared back at him; she refused to work with him any longer if he was going to behave this way, what the hell was his problem? She had done nothing wrong for him to give her this amount of shit. Warner ignored him and continued,

"There are 2 types of DNA, from what I've found, one was in the system, but the other, isn't."

"Great" Olivia breathed, wiping a few strands of her bangs aside. It could never end so easily.

"I must've overlooked it." Ryan added beside her, his eyes constantly moving from Elliot to Olivia, giving her a sympathetic smile whenever she met his eyes. Olivia shook her head, resting her hands on her hips,

"Well—we looked over everything, I don't know where to start," she stated, exasperated, what time was it anyway?

"I could go over everything in the apartment again, tomorrow, make sure I didn't miss anything if that would help." Ryan offered,

"I think you've done all you can do," Elliot shot knives at Ryan through his icy blue eyes, stepping by Olivia,

"Than why don't you try harder." All four looked to their left, surprised to see Cragen, who was eyeing Elliot, obviously not pleased with his attitude, like everyone else. He stepped right up to Elliot.

"Now-its late, why don't you two go pick up this guy, and we'll hold him over night, until you can take a shot at him in the morning." He ordered, still keeping eye contact with Elliot.

Warner and Ryan both nodded and headed off as Olivia added,

"Why don't we just try tonight? Apparently he was working with a partner, maybe if we started earlier when can take a crack at him longer." She suggested, stepping away from Elliot and ignoring him completely. She was getting tired by the way he was acting, she didn't know how much longer she could stand his smart-ass comments and pissed off attitude. Cragen shook his head,

"Its already late, go home, get some sleep, after you bring him back here." He instructed, leaving to make his way up to the elevator, probably going up to his office to wait for them until they come back with the perp

Olivia chanced a glance back at Elliot who hadn't said a word through the whole conversation, except to make an un-called for comment, that was just completely annoying and inappropriate. He was still pacing, why the hell was he doing that?

"Stop it, your giving me a headache." She snapped, causing him to do what she wanted. Elliot met her eyes, and with a toss of the car keys at her face he headed off to the parking garage, luckily her reflexes are good or she would have pulled out her gloc and shot him herself, right in the back, see how he felt about that, know the pain she had to go through when he did the same thing, only with a knife.

She felt betrayed, she felt like she lost her partner, this person was not the caring, child protecting, confident, selfless man she once new, that was so many years ago, so many things have changed, including them, and especially there relationship, if you can even call it that, not what its come down to anyways, at first when she thought about it, she thought she was blowing it way out of proportion, but now, it seemed like an understatement.

Olivia was glad Elliot bestowed it upon her to drive, she had the chance to vent some of her anger on the road by not obeying the speed limits, in favor of starting a fight with Elliot, even though she would very much like the second thought.

"We're lucky we even got him in there." Elliot grumbled, throwing his jacket on that was carelessly flung across his desk. "Talk about getting rusty with old age."

Olivia practically growled, "Maybe if you spoke up sooner, instead of sulking about god knows what, I wouldn't have been mixed up by your directions on where he was going." Olivia snapped, slamming her locker door shut after she had placed her unloaded gun and badge safely inside. She spun to face him, resting her hand against it,

"And I do recall your years older than me, Stabler."

"That's enough."

Eliot grunted and shut off his computer, turning around to face his Captain.

"Now, either you two get your acts together or I'll get someone else on this case." He warned, staring mostly at Elliot.

"It's not the case that's the problem." Elliot muttered to himself, but they all caught it in the silent squad room.

Olivia shook her head and snorted, she left the room, not wasting her breath with saying anything at all.

But Cragen's gaze on Elliot didn't waver, "You got problems at home, you deal with them there, don't bring them here, I remember what you told me, and I have sympathy, but that doesn't mean you can treat one of my detectives like they're not as decorated a you are, your _partner_ none the less." Elliot stood there silent, not knowing what to say.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" he added, disgust in his tone. Cragen dared to step closer to Elliot's form, taking his military adapted posture, not moving a muscle.

"Now you will answer me when I ask that you _will _work this case right without a complaint or disrespect towards anything."

"It's not that I don't have any respect for her Cap'n"

"Excuse me?" Cragen's eyes turning into angry slits.

Elliot shook his head, not at liberty to say. "I agree to work this case, that's all."

"Good, now go home, before I decide for you to stay." He turned to leave, not looking back at Elliot who still hadn't moved an inch from where he was standing.

Olivia sighed as she got in the doorway, finally home after being at the precinct for 21 hours, a lot of times it was much longer. Now she will finally be able to get some sleep, but she groaned when she thought about the next day, she had to interrogate a rapist, find out his partner, and she had to face Elliot. And she had a date with Ryan, the crime scene tech. She sighed again; maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

After all, he had always helped them solve cases before, for how many years? It was now uncomfortable to face Elliot every day and they never had a relationship, what if this one went south? Which all of them did, for the same reason, her job, but he did share that kind of chaos, maybe he would understand, he seemed to already.

She just didn't need anymore-unpleasant people to face through the day, she was having trouble with just one, and how was she going to handle it?

As Olivia raked a hand through her hair, she flicked on the lamp to her bedroom, there was always the positive way to look at it, what if it worked? What if it was fun being with Ryan and she enjoyed herself? What if everything went smoothly for once? _Without _her clutch purse vibrating, but that was already too much to ask for.

Well, maybe she could let him down gently, and he wouldn't take it hard, hopefully that wasn't asking much.

After she slipped on some loose comfortable clothes she lifted the covers to her bed, hoping for pleasant sleep so she wouldn't feel so awful in the morning, one step at a time, she could get through this, maybe it would help if she just stopped thinking about it in the first place, never failed her in the past.

With that last thought she managed to drift off to sleep.

She never knew how bizarre her dreams could get until she woke up the next morning, her head was filled of colorful blotches and blurry blobs, and first she just thought it was the sun shining in through her eyelids but than she saw Elliot, he was walking just walking, away from her, and than towards her all at once, she felt a hand gripping her arm and she looked to the side to see Ryan, his eyes piercing through Elliot's body, as if they were really piercing through the skin.

Than Elliot's eyes landed on hers, the blue was so clear, beautiful actually she dared to say, but they were filled with sadness and betrayal, at the time, in her dream she felt remorse for how hurt he really seemed that she was with Ryan, but later, when she was awake, she didn't mind one bit.

She watched silently as she watched Elliot trying to turn his back to her, but it seemed like he was moving through mud, his movements were struggled, and slow, he couldn't seem to move, let alone move his stare from hers. Olivia looked back at Ryan and he smiled sweetly, which only took her pain away for awhile, not able to keep her gaze from her partner for long she turned back to face him, but his frame was muddled and blurry, suddenly his face scrunched up in pain, making him look so much younger, like when they first met, and than, he vanished.

Ryan gripped her hard, pulling her body into his, and that's when her dream became black and white, just before she woke up.

With hazed vision and a blurry mind, she lifted herself out of bed and headed for the shower, wanting the steam from the hot water to clear her head. A cup of coffee would probably help also.

Feeling like she received no sleep last night, she reluctantly entered the squad room, not ready for the day at all. Thankfully, Elliot hadn't come yet, but he would probably bitch how she got there 'early' when he got there. But she froze when her eyes drifted to the coffee pots behind Munch's desk, he was standing there, his jacket still on, pouring himself a cup, and when he turned, he had 2 in hand, Olivia snorted when he approached her, offering the cup, just the way she liked it. She wanted to make a smart-ass comment, like he always seemed to do now a days, but she thought against it, she really didn't want to start with him in the morning.

He probably just piped down for now because Cragen had talked to him for her last night, she hated it when he did that, he didn't need to fight her battles, even thought he always said he liked to help.

"What are you trying to pull?" she commented, taking the cup, deciding to keep the conversation light.

Elliot shrugged taking his coat off, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips, "Nothing."

Olivia shook her head, not convinced, but didn't want to push it, she had to think every word she said thoroughly when it came to him, she didn't want to set him off into a temper tantrum this early in the morning when they had a whole day, and possibly night together.

And than he had the nerve to ask,

"Hey-if we aren't working late, I was wondering if we could grab a bite, I have something I need to say."

Olivia let out one puff of hair, her legs locking beneath her.


	3. A Change in Plans

**Sorry this took so long, but i feel like this chapters pretty good, im actually proud of it, so here goes nothing, i hope you guyz like it ^_^**

**Chapter 3--A Change in Plans  
**

She couldn't believe he'd even have the nerve to ask, especially after the shit he's been pulling lately. It was about a few seconds until she realized she had been standing there with her lips slightly parted in surprise.

"Um…." Her voice sounding nothing like hers, she decided to clear the lump that had formed in her throat a few moments ago by his unexpected question.

"I can't." She decided to keep her answers short and to the point, not wanting to give too much information, she ducked her head from his gaze, directing it to her computer, wanting to drop the subject before he could probe her further, but for the sonovabitch he'd been lately, and seeing her in the hall with Ryan, he probably knew exactly what she had planned for that night.

But Olivia watched from the corner of her eye, she saw Elliot shrug indifferently,

"Okay, tomorrow than." He stated stubbornly, plopping in his chair, taking the coffee stirrer from his cup and torturing the thing with his teeth.

She hated it when he did that, it meant he was usually calculating or thinking of something, trying to figure that said thing out, and from the circumstances, that certain thing was her.

A few hours later, he brought it up again,

"So-Liv, what are your plans for tonight? Date?" she hated the way he said it, like it would be a huge surprise and/or shocker if she did, couldn't the guy give it a rest? Couldn't he get a life and stay out of hers? Her answer was a frustrated sigh, and she went back to work, luckily, he didn't address it any further.

She never thought about it, but when Elliot still was together with his wife, when he used to talk about his kids all the time, did he hate the fact that she always asked on how they were doing? Well, no of course not, he loved bragging about his kids, a redeeming quality that was actually a good one, but he did always seem irritated whenever she asked about his wife, Kathy, but why would he be, she was his wife, he did love her once, now Olivia backed down, and now he couldn't get a hint that she hoped he would give her the same courtesy, especially since he always went into a fit whenever she mentioned the word wife or family around him now. Now that she finally started to stay away from his personal life, he couldn't get enough of hers.

Things changed, a lot between them.

**ooOoo**

"You certainly clean up well." Olivia couldn't help but smile at the comment, its something one could really use after a long tiresome day.

"So, where are we going?" she wondered, just wanting to leave her apartment, and walk into a mindless night. She was answered with a cocky smirk,

"Nothing special, nothing big, you probably want nothing more than to unwind after work, am I right?" Olivia allowed him to softly link his fingers with hers, finding comfort in the way his hot palm spread warmth through her skin in the chilled night. She inhaled the crisp fall air and was finally pleased with a decision she made, this felt relaxed and right.

She made the right choice.

What he said was an understatement, it was the first time she ever wondered how much Crime Scene Techs got paid. The restaurant was sent in a dim, intimate glow as they made their way to a secluded table, that had a little more privacy than she was sure was not intended, she snorted after the thought. The only thing that illuminated around them was the small candle placed at the center.

"You really didn't have to go out of your way for this." Olivia commented softly as they were seated, Ryan ordered a bottle of Cabernet. He simply shrugged,

"It's nothing, with the hours you pull and people you deal with on a daily basis, I figure you deserve to be spoiled, just a little bit." He states with a smile, and wink. Olivia busies herself with unfolding her napkin and laying it across her lap to give her time taking this all in. Than she felt obligated to say the next,

"This just reminds me of our last date, I wanted to—" he silences her with a shake of his head.

"Olivia, really its nothing, do you really want to spend this whole dinner just apologizing for everything you can come up with?" Olivia's shoulders relax as she slightly slumps back in her chair, she shakes her head sheepishly, giving in, she really needs all this, just to get away from the chaos of what she's used to.

"I guess not." She surrenders. His lips curve in satisfaction.

That's when the waiter shows up with their wine, they order their food and he is quickly on this way back to the kitchen.

"Instead of apologizing I just wanted to thank you for persuading me to dinner, I just…things—" she struggled with her words and she hated this fact, but he saved her for having to finish her sentence.

"With Stabler?" he asked tentatively.

Olivia sighs, concentrating on the crimson liquid in her glass, not brave enough to meet his gaze,

"Yeah."

Ryan snorts, and that's what draws her eyes up to him,

"You've been working with him for so long, I can see how he could get to you some times, I just don't see why you do though, he's been pulling the same crap for years, and that's all you can do, don't let it get to you, whatever he says."

She was shocked, really, she didn't realize this charade that her and Elliot pulled was really that noticeable, this dance they seemed to be always doing, with talking, to completely loathing each other, to joking around and getting along, her head was starting to spin just thinking about it, and what surprised her was, by his sentence, he seemed to be giving it a lot of thought lately. Olivia wasn't quite sure on what to say, but she was grateful he seemed to care this much.

Her shoulders slump a little more, she suddenly felt so exhausted and tired, here she was trying to get away by having dinner with Ryan and they suddenly managed to breach the subject of the problem she was trying to avoid all along.

Thankfully he seemed to notice this as well,

"Look, I'm sorry, I really don't want to sit here and talk about your partner, and clearly neither do you." He sighs, sitting up straighter to cover her hand with his. She once again enjoys the way his hot palm lays across her fingers and the back of her hand, she glances down at their hands and she looks back at him.

"Ryan—I'm sorry, I just…." She trails off looking away from him and his soft gaze. She hates herself for Elliot even breaching her thoughts, she hates him, and she hates him for following her everywhere she goes, even though it may not be his fault, she desperately wants to move on, and with Ryan this seems like a possibility.

"Hey…" he states softly squeezing her hand, causing her to meet his gaze once again, now his eyes are dancing as he states,

"You just want to get out of here?" he mummers, his eyes gleaming. Just that friendly, playful look causes her lips to move, giving him her answer,

"Sure."

He gently tugs her hand, helping her up from the seat and they both make their escape.

**ooOoo**

"I never thought I'd just go for pizza in a cocktail dress." Olivia comments with a chuckle as she folds her slice in half in order to fit a bite into her mouth. A sloppy mess of cheese and artery clogging grease drips down her palm as she chews the fattening food.

Ryan laughs, "I don't think I'm going to be able to get this grease of my shirt." She chuckles along with him, even though there cant possibly be anything funny about that, she's lucky she hasn't gotten any greasy food on her dress yet. Olivia cant help but giggle as Ryan takes a bite that's impossible to fit in his mouth, but he manages.

"Oh come on, you try it." He smiles as he catches her laughing at him.

"Take a real bite, don't gnaw on it, _really_ bite into it." He emphasizes with his cheeks protruding almost like a blowfish as he tries to explain all this to her around a mouthful. She nods and lines the pizza up to her mouth, but starts chuckling she just cant do it, her shoulders shake with her laughs, causing more grease to dribble down her fingers and onto her plate,

"Ok…" she laughs, "This is just plain disgusting."

"No…this is real food, I gotta tell ya, none of that frenchy food, I can't even pronounce that I tried to feed ya an hour ago." He chuckles finally swallowing the mass he had stuffed in his mouth. She laughs and peels a pepperoni off hers, trying to release the string of cheese, still stubbornly clinging to it. Olivia shook harder, it finally giving up, perhaps, she, just needed a little nudge in the right direction, a push.

"I could've helped you pronounce some of the entrees if that was the real reason why you needed to get out of there so quickly." She chuckled.

"You were as eager as me, honestly, I thought those were your thing." He admitted.

"What? Late dinner, dark lighting, wine?" she shrugged, "Well, maybe the wine, but with a day like today, a serious setting isn't really something I look forward to." She confesses with an indifferent shrug.

"Even though I do prefer good ole' beer myself." She adds, taking a swig from the bottle by her.

"I'll take that into consideration next time." He states with a smile, before taking another bite.

Next time? She thought, well, ya, maybe. Olivia almost corrected him, maybe this is a one time thing, but if that were true, they wouldn't be here right now, even if they were trying to be technical that they haven't been on a 'real' date yet, with the interruption of her phone when they tried to whole late night dinner thing last time they met. But still, he left it open for her if she wanted to reconsider.

For once, she just sat back and enjoyed her pizza, not wanting to argue, and honestly, she was just so damn tired of doing the same thing all the time. Olivia finally decided to give Ryan a chance, who knows, maybe he'll surprise her.

**ooOoo**

He surprised her that night when there was no awkwardness between them when he dropped her off, the tazi idling by the curve as he walked her to the door, he surprised her when he tugged on her elbow and his lips immediately met her, he surprised her by how soft and warm his lips were, melting and molding against her own, he surprised her by the tenderness he could carry with him whenever it came to being intimate with someone, he amazed her, and that's what surprised her the most.

But that didn't matter, it didn't matter because his body stepped closer to her, surrounding her in his warmth and it didn't matter, especially when his hands came up to gently cup her neck, she closed her eyes and gave herself this little luxury, Ryan succeeding in completely coaxing her to forget everything that was going on outside of this. His fingertips lightly grazed the hairline at the top of her neck and that's when he started to pull away, his nose grazing hers before he laid one more peck across her now swollen lips and walked back to the taxi, giving her one final wave before he closed the door and drove off, leaving her completely dazed by the door of her apartment building.

He surprised her, by leaving, by not wanting to go up with her, with the excuse of coffee or something alcoholic; he left, in promise of seeing her again.

So, maybe that was the thing that surprised her the most, he was looking for something more, and perhaps, so was she.

**TBC**


End file.
